Heretofore various types of currency validators have been known in the art. Such apparatus is typically used for receiving and authenticating a paper tendered as valid currency, and exchanging goods, services, and/or change in return therefore. Known currency validators are typically either of the slot or tray acceptor type. In the former, a piece of currency is entered into a slot and is transported along a note path where various authentication test are performed. When the currency is validated, it is punched or otherwise deposited into a cash box where it is retained. In similar fashion, in tray acceptors a piece of currency is laid on a tray and slid into a housing where it is temporarily locked while validation tests are performed. Once validated, the currency is again deposited in a cash box. In both cases, the cash box progressively grows with respect to the amount of currency retained therein. Accordingly, service personnel must remove the currency on a periodic basis.
It is well known that the accessibility to cash often gives rise to temptations of wrongfully taking or retaining the same. When the amount of currency returned by a service person does not equal the total value of coins, services, and goods dispensed, it is difficult to pinpoint whether the error is the result of the validator itself or dishonesty on behalf of the individual. Further, monitoring of the same is time consuming and expensive.
It is believed to be most beneficial if the cash box of a currency validator may be treated as a cassette, totally removable from the machine for replacement by an empty cash box cassette. It is further believed to be beneficial if the cash box itself can evidence a count of the amount of currency received thereby and for which an account must be given by the service personnel. While some cassette cash boxes have been known for currency validators, they have typically been complicated mechanical structures secured by various types of locks and mechanical linkages requiring special tools or keys for accessibility. Such tools and keys would typically be available only to specific authorized personnel. However, the "picking" or other defeat of such mechanical systems has generally been within the capabilities of the associated service personnel. Heretofore, there have been no sophisticated electronically coded cassette cash boxes for defeating the wrongful attempts of the mechanically astute to invade the same.